Missing Pieces: The Watch

I wasn’t expecting any new Lost content ’til February–and no more than a handful of episodes at that point, due to the recent writer’s strike. They got eight eps in the can before the strike hit, and if there’s much more of a delay, there’s talk of merging the remaining 8 episodes of season four into #5 rather than risk a compressed shooting schedule. Me no like. Watch here first.

Anyway, in an effort to maintain interest and offer some fans some bonus content (read: opportunity to make more money for ABC with a minimum of effort), ABC.com is featuring thirteen new Lost webisodes (sponsored by Verizon™!! YEAH, BUY SOME PHONES AND MAKE US MONEY, WOO!!) on their website, a new one each Monday. Clocking in at around three minutes each, they’ll feature “compelling, new, never-before-seen moments from the hit television show LOST.” Hm, right.

The first webisode, entitled, “The Watch,” takes us back to the day leading up to Jack’s wedding, with an encounter between he and his father on the beach outside their hotel. Christian (Jack’s dad) offers his son a watch his father gave him before his wedding, and relates the fact that Jack’s grandfather didn’t like his son’s choice of bride. It ends with a rare moment of warmness on Christian’s part, acknowledging that he hasn’t been a great father. The scene seems to undermine the story points the actual show featured, as there was never really a moment where Jack’s father came to terms with the way he’d treated Jack before drinking himself–literally–to death. The emotional pay-off to that subplot came when Sawyer told Jack about meeting Christian in the bar in Australia and relating that he had been proud of his son. “The Watch” essentially detracts from the impact that revelation had, as we find out Christian showed some contrition well before that point.

Anyway, that’s about as much cheap analysis as the first webisodes deserved, as it appears to have been done on the cheap with a handicam. I certainly can’t wait for season four, but I’d rather have quality over quantity in my new Lost content. Plus, there’s not really any wiggle room in this webisode to allow for any wild, new theories on the meaning of the Island. Although, maybe the rock Jack threw into the ocean was, in actuality, a tracking device placed there by the Dharma Initiative, which emits an subsonic signal that awakens the Island, which then begins to summon all those who have found its’ magic rocks. It’s just like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory with rocks instead of golden tickets. I plan on fleshing this out in much more detail when I devote all five-and-a-half hours of my next live podcast (Jeff Gets Lost Live Podcastacular™!) to those rocks.